According to the sociocognitive model of dissociative identity disorder (DID; formerly, multiple personality disorder), DID is not a valid psychiatric disorder of postlraumatic origin; rather, it is a creation of psychotherapy and the media. Support for the model was recently presented by N. P. Spanos (1994). In this article, the author reexamines the evidence for the model and concludes that it is based on numerous false assumptions about the psychopathology, assessment, and treatment of DID. Most recent research on the dissociative disorders does not support {and in fact disconnrms) the sociocognitive model, and many inferences drawn from previous research appear unwarranted. No reason exists to doubt the connection between DID and childhood trauma. Treatment recommendations that follow from the sociocognitive model may be harmful because they involve ignoring the posttraumatic symptomatology of persons with DID. Within the dissociative disorders field and much of mainstream psychiatry and psychology, disso...

Texas A&M University

Social psychology

Cognitive psychology

Identity 

The sociocognitive model of dissociative identity disorder: A reexamination of the evidence.